A Meeting of Two Forces
by xxlealeaxx
Summary: Alice and her reliable buddy Boone take on the Mojave together with a cast of friends and allies to help them along the way. Focuses mainly on Alice and Boone but will feature Arcade and Veronica as well. First fic so would welcome reviews, critical or nice :D No smutt or fluff here guys, at least nothing is planned ATM. Dialogue and minor details may be off cannon
1. The Nighttime Sniper

A cigar lay on the table, smoke rising in an upward spiral. Streams of golden light slipped their way through the gaps in the boarded window. Dust danced it's way through the beams, never slowing to settle, always moving. The gleams were the only source of light within the room with the exception of the faint glow given by the radio. It crackled out an old world song, 'the day that I stop counting, that's the day my world will end'. It had been Carla's favourite. He sat staring in to nothingness as a wave of heart wrenching guilt and anger washed over him. Unwanted memories of their life together began to surface so Boone began drowning his sorrows through the two vices he knew, whiskey and cigarettes. As the whiskey began to go to his head he dropped the empty bottle and it clattered under the table. Lack of sleep was beginning to catch him as he felt a heavy weight to his eyelids. Drifting into unconsciousness, he dreaded the dream which would soon consume him.

He woke with her in his arms, sound asleep with a string of drool attached between her lip and his chest. 'Whatever', he thought, 'as long as she's happy'. He let out a sigh of content as he slipped out of the bed, gently resting her head on to a pillow. He went to the bathroom and wiped his chest over, cleaning himself of Carla-drool. After changing he quietly left the room so he could have a smoke. The sun began to peek over the horizon, gently warming him as he rested on the balcony. With a busy day ahead of him he took the time to savour his cigarette, eventually lighting another off of it. In an attempt to justify it he told himself that would be the last one he would fit in today, she wouldn't let him smoke around her, especially with her carrying his child. After stubbing his second one out on the balcony pole he turned to their room to wake her.

Upon re-entering the room he looked to the bed to find it empty. He headed towards the bathroom, guessing she would be in there only to find the mirror smashed into shards. Glass littered the sink and the floor. He headed towards the door in a panic, fearing the worst as he noticed a shard from the mirror lying on the floor by their bed. The tip was red with blood, a trail following the bathroom to where the shard lay. He fell in to a blind rage and burst through the door, only to find he was no longer in Novac, but upon a hill in legion territory. A modified hunting rifle lay by his feet, noting its familiarity as he realised it as being his own. Glancing quickly to the bottom of the hill confirmed his fears. He was in Cottonwood Cove. A lump formed in his throat as he saw her, swarmed by a sea of crimson red. They were selling the slaves. Once her turn was up and they began bidding he took a deep breath, aiming his sights on her head. "I'm so sorry" he pleaded to the only two he could ever love as he squeezed the trigger.

A light knock woke him from his sleep. Straining to open his eyes he got up off of the sofa stretching his neck out in an attempt to smooth out the crick. Still trying to shake the dream from his mind he opened the door to see a woman stood in front of him, a strange robot hovering behind her. She looked at him with a half expectant smile only to receive a glare that would make a deathclaw flinch.

"Can I help you?" He asked with a groan as he rubbed a hand over his eye.

"Oh, um, Boone right? Alice." She met the introduction with a half smile that he could have sworn was half judging. "I just wanted to pop in and introduce myself. I was actually wondering - I mean I had been told by the owner of this place that you're on watch - if there's any chance you saw a guy coming through here in a checkered suit? Bunch of khans with him..." She looked him up and down, a sense of amusement across her face. He snapped out of his daze, still trying to shake his dream from his mind.

Realising what she was finding funny, he pushed his sunglasses up, straightening them and pulled his beret over so it wasn't lopsided anymore. "Can't say I have no, sorry, did you check with the other sniper?" He asked, trying to be as helpful as he could muster even though he had no interest in the conversation.

She returned his answer with a sigh, "no problem, I'll do that now. Thanks anyway."

He closed the door as she walked back down the stairs, returning to his vices.

That night he prepared for his shift on watch in the Dino's mouth. In an attempt to avoid any interaction with Manny he made sure to time it perfectly that one shift ended and the other started upon his arrival. The two snipers crossed on the stairs, paying one another no notice. He stepped into his nest to find the same woman that turned up at his door earlier, stood in front of him now, at his work. She turned and saw the surprise on his face.

"Expecting visitors? Or maybe not. I found out from your friend where my guy was headed. Just thought I'd come and say thanks, seeing as you pointed me in the right direction and all. Speaking of which, I should probably get going. Only a few more hours of light left."

"Huh, I guess I maybe am. " she stopped in her tracks as he continued. "Maybe it should have been you I was expecting all along. I need someone I can trust."


	2. Gray Matter

Alice spent the next afternoon on a revenge fuelled hunt after being tasked by Boone to find the one responsible for his wife's capture. Although Alice had a fairly questionable moral code, any formalities with the legion were out of the question, along with anything to do with an innocent. From Alice's questioning around the town, Carla's wasn't the most popular woman around but her biggest crime was being a little thoughtless at times. Despite no one having anything nice to say, in her mind Alice was sure that it was one of two inhabitants; Manny Vargas or Jeannie-May Crawford.

For a time, Manny had been her number one suspect. The man had a harshness to him in the way he would speak about her, openly calling her a bitch and showing clear signs of jealousy. Boone's ex partner clearly hated the woman, moaning of her high standards and bratty attitude. She also put him as a contender after discovering he was associated (at least) with the figures travelling with her should be murderer. Despite this, Alice had her doubts after seeing the man's distress over his and Boone's now questionable friendship status. She had also put down his moaning to simply being honest.

Jeannie-May on the other hand had a strange quality to her. Manipulative. She appeared a bit deluded, thinking of the dump that was Novac as a haven. Too friendly and too happy with the towns guards, Alice had thought of her as a highly likely contender. The woman had gloated and openly showed her happiness over the snipers keeping watch in the dinosaur and had also moaned of how Carla wanted to go back to the city. She speculated to Alice that the woman had probably gotten fed up of waiting and left Boone, criticising her over the way in which she hated Novac.

Although she was leaning towards Jeannie being the culprit, the scene with Boone replayed in her mind. He had warned her that she better prove her allegations against whoever she leads to their death or it would be her in trouble. Exasperated, Alice slumped out of the motel reception and went around the corner to sit for a smoke. Halfway through her cigarette she decided that once Manny was back in the dinosaur she would scope out his place and rake around for anything which might prove his involvement. Then, if that search turned fruitless, she would break in to the reception at night to see if she could find proof there.

Admitting defeat for the remainder of the evening she trudged her way up to her room, determined that tonight she would catch a decent amount of shut eye. She passed Boone as she wandered towards her room. Only acknowledging him through a curt nod and giving little eye contact, she felt a deep sorrow for the man who had lost everything and seemed to harbour some vicious demons as a result.

Reaching her room she jammed the key in to the lock and forced it open, wincing as the latches groaned heavily due to lack of maintenance. Dumping all of her possessions Alice stripped off and wandered to the bathroom, washing the sweat and dust off of her skin after a tedious and heart wrenching day. She thought of boone as she washed, her heart broke for him as she wondered of their last moments together and if what Jeannie had said held any truth. Although not close to the scale of death, abandonment could be incredibly damaging to ones psyche. Thoughts about Boone and Carla soon led to thoughts of her own past as she struggled to think if she had loved before. Her hand drifted to the healing wound on her temple, feeling some sense of anxiety over her inability to remember any details of her life beyond two weeks ago.

Having finished washing she emptied the sink and changed for bed. As soon as her head hit the pillow she prayed for a rest full nights sleep, free from dreams of her grave, killer and flickers of her previous life.

Alice awoke in a sweat 3 hours later and she decided that sleep would have to wait. It was midnight and she was convinced Jeannie would no longer be occupying the reception. She wearily pulled on her short and t-shirt combo and roughly pulled her long mahogany hair back into a high ponytail, securing the loose hairs with pins. She grabbed her smokes, screwdriver and small combat knife and went to scope the reception to see if Jeannie was still there. She walked down the stairs, stepping lightly as she did so and lit up a cigarette. The nicotine would help her calm down as she began to get worked up over what she might find in the reception. No light appeared to be coming through the windows, leading Alice to assume she was no longer there. She twisted the handle to double check the door was locked but to her surprise it swung open with a low groan.

Smiling inwardly to herself Alice closed the door behind her and got to work. She raked the filing cabinets apart only to tidy them back to how she left them until noticing a safe during behind the desk. In a fit of giddiness due to adrenaline she was on her knees beside the safe in a matter of seconds prying with the screwdriver and one of the pins from her hair. With a satisfying click the safe jarred open enough so she could latch her fingers and pry it open. Inside was an assortment of crap; 9mm ammo, caps, scrap metal, cram, pencils, clipboards and a worn down folded piece of paper which read a bill of sale for a miss Carla Boone and her unborn child.

In a fit of rage Alice trashed the reception. She burnt the contents of the safe except the bill and intended to also burn down Jeannie's house once boone had blown the bitchs head off. She left the building heading straight in the direction of Jeannie's house, puffing at a smoke all the while. She reached the door, took a deep breath and steadied herself, ready to put on her best acting. Upon opening the doop, Jeannie looked as though she were expecting someone else and seemed to be relieved it were not. A look of irritation began to cloud over,

Jeannie sighed, "Everything alright? Awfull late to be droppin' in unexpected?" Alice twitched at the woman's annoyance.

Alice was ready for this so put on her best show, catching the woman in one of the weaknesses she had figured; making a decent impression for the small settlement of novac. "we need to help! I was out having a cigarette and I saw a woman and a child waiting in front of the dinosaur. They both looked starving and I think they maybe need a place to stay the night"

After their short encounter, the two of them hurried on in front of the dinosaur. Alice had pulled the beret out and was ready to fix it to her head. However, the sight of her pulling it from her pocket must have been sufficient for boone as Jeannie's head exploded from her body just as the beret had begun to rise, splattering brain all over Alice and the rocks surrounding them.


End file.
